Chili

Chili in May..

Tonight is a Chili night. It is a cold and grey day in the Nw, and I am feeling like I need some comfort food. So we will light our fire places, curl up on our couches, read a book, and eat chili!

• 2 teaspoons of olive oil
• 1 small onion
• 2 pounds of lean ground beef
• 8 ounces of slice mushrooms
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon Cayenne
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• 1 tablespoon of Mexican chili powder
• 3 cans of organic diced tomato
• 1 can of organic stewed tomato
• 7 ounces whole green chile's (drained)
• 1 6 ounce tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• 1 teaspoon of oregano
• season with pepper
• 2 diced sweet cherry peppers Jarred Mezzetta

1. Dice one small onion, saute in two tablespoons of olive oil. 
2. Soften and add sliced mushrooms, and ground beef. 
3. Ground and drain.
4. Add all canned items and spices.
5. Stew on low for 15 to 30 minutes!

Berry Summer Salad

I love summer Berry Much. What better way to celebrate warmer temperatures than by enjoying a light summer salad, topped with natures antioxidant goodness!

• 1 Cup of Rasperries
• 1 Cup of Blackberries
• Avocado
• several sliced mushrooms (optional)
• 6 cups of Fresh Spring Mix or Spinach
• 1/2 cup of Goat Cheese or Feta Cheese
• 3 Tablespoons of Napa Valley Naturals Olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons of Oilerie Balsamic Vinaigrette aged 25 years
• a dash of salt

This is a simple recipe.

Toss leaves in a bowl. Toss on top the rinsed fruit and diced avocado. Add Cheese. In a small bowl add Olive oil, and balsamic, and a pinch of salt. Stir well and add to salad.

This can be topped with any not that you choose. Goes excellent with Chicken as well!

Serve and Enjoy!

Mexican Spinach

This Mexican Spinach, is oh so delicious alone, or could be added to eggs or you could do as we did tonight and use as a topping on the Fajita Mexican Pancakes! 

• 1 teaspoon of Cumin
• 1 teaspoon of chili powder
• salt and pepper
• 1 tomato deseeded and diced 
• Defrosted of 10 oz frozen organic spinach
• 4 oz of Goat cheese

Throw all ingredients in skillet and cook for ten minutes on medium high! 

Fajita's on Mexican Pancake

Fajitas on Mexican pancake

Happy cinco de mayo!

She loves her meat and peppers!

For those of us that love eating Mexican and miss the tortilla's used here is an Paleo alternative!

• 1 pound of flank steak
• (2) 6 ounce chicken breast
• 1 lime
• 1 teaspoon of Chili powder
• 1 teaspoon of dried oregano
• salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon of granulated garlic
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 2 small onions 
• 2 teaspoons of cumin
• 3 bell peppers
• 1 tomato deseeded and diced
• fresh cilantro to taste!

In a small bowl mix Chili Powder, Oregano, salt and pepper, granulated garlic, and cumin together. Line a baking dish with foil, and drizzle some olive oil on the bottom. Place sliced onion, tomato and bell peppers in the baking dish on the bottom. Rub your flank steak and chicken with all spices, and lay on top of vegetable mix. Drizzle with  olive oil, and squeeze a whole lime on the chicken and steak. Broil for 20 minutes or grill!

Mexican Pancake

• 1/4 cup Coconut flour
• 1/4 teaspoon of Kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• 2 packets of trivia
• 1/4 teaspoon of chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of oregano
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 6 eggs

Mix eggs and olive oil in a bowl with a high speed hand held blender. In a separate bowl mix all dry ingredients, and then combine.

Pour mix in a skillet by 1/4 cup measurements. On medium heat cook until golden on both sides.

Greek Strawberry Salad (Tracey Original!)

Today was a perfect day in Portland! A high of 70 degrees, with the sun shining all day. My daughter had a play date and had been playing all day long. They were playing Cinderella, and cleaned the kid table outside off, and placed fresh picked flowers in a bowl. 

The simplest joys in life are the best!

For snack I made Fresh Greek Strawberry salad for the girls! And of course they loved this sweet and cool snack after playing outdoors all day long!

4 cups of Fresh Sliced Strawberries

1 Tablespoon of honey, or Maple Syrup

1 tablespoon shaved coconut

6 tablespoons of Greek Honey Yogurt

1 Banana

Slice the strawberries and toss in a medium sized bowl, stir in sweetener, Yogurt, coconut, and sliced banana.

Chill for twenty minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

The Best ever Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies

We have tried recipe after recipe, trying to perfect the ultimate Almond Flour Chocolate chip cookies. 

Most were o.k., some mixtures were crumbly, others had a really distinct almond flavor!

Tonight I thought that it I would try Maple Syrup and it was a success!

I was so pleased with myself I shared half the batch with my friends and neighbors.

Bagged and ready for delivery!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 3 cups of Blanched Almond Four
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of Kosher Sea Salt
• 1/2 cup of Grapeseed oil
• 1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 cup of Maple Syrup
• 2 Eggs
• 1 1/2 cup of Chocolate Chips

Mix all dry ingredients into a large bowl, stir well. 

 Next mix wet ingredients into a medium bowl, and mix well. Combine.

Using a tablespoon measure out on parchment paper! Bake at 350 for ten minutes or until no longer wet looking!

Strawberry Walnut Spinach Salad drizzled in a White White Vinaigrette

The sun has magically appeared in Portland Oregon, and the days has become warmer and are now lasting longer! It has been amazing weather, and the farmers market is right around the corner and so I am of course inspired to prepare dishes that are seasonal delights here in Oregon!

So I thought what better way than to celebrate late spring in Oregon, than with delicious strawberries!

 Strawberry Walnut Spinach Salad drizzled in a White White Vinaigrette, is a light salad that can be prepared in no time, and you do not even need to turn on the oven! Of course we did serve this with a chicken that was seasoned with Thyme, Oregano, and salt!

• 4 cups of strawberries
• 3 cuties or 1 orange
• 10 cups of fresh spinach
• 1/3 cup goat cheese
• 2 tblsp crushed walnuts
• 1 tblsp maple syrup (or Local Honey)
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbps white wine vinegar   
• sprinkle of salt 1/4 teaspoon

In a bowl toss 10 cups of prepared or (fresh farmers market) Spinach. Squeeze one whole cutie, or one tablespoon of orange into the spinach and toss.

In a separate bowl mix all the rest of the wet ingredients. Squeeze Orange, maple syrup, olive oil, white wine vinegar and the sprinkle of salt, all together.

Coat spinach, and then add strawberries, sliced goat cheese, and walnuts. Toss and serve!

One Thumbs up 

One Thumbs up 

One Thumbs up

Good Friday Dinner

During Lent we have refrained from eating meat on Fridays. With the exception of Fish!


Our family loves fish, my girls love fish and eat it up, and I am sure that this Halibut recipe will become one of your families favorites as well!

Roasted Pepper Halibut

• 1 pound of Halibut
• Cayenne pepper, 
• salt and pepper 
• 1 lemon squeezed
• 5 tablespoons of Olive oil
• 1 shallot
• 2 Bell red peppers
• 2 hot cherry peppers from a jar and deseeded
• 2 tablespoons of balsamic
• 1tablespoon of Honey
• 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard

and my treat but this is not paleo, but makes this recipe amazing is....
2 tablespoons of Kelly's Habanero Jelly

Marinate the Halibut in lemon juice and a tablespoon of olive oil. Sprinkle Cayenne pepper, salt and pepper on fish.

In food processor puree bell pepper, hot cherry pepper,  balsamic, honey, mustard, and optional  Jelly.


Bake Halibut or grill. I baked at 450 for around 25 minutes. I am extra safe and cautious, and we were cooking 2 pounds this night.

When you are done baking add sauce.

This sauce was so good that we added it to our egg mixture the next morning!

We had an amazing Good Friday Dinner.

Coconut Flour Blueberry Pancakes

Blueberry Pancakes.

I made this Last weekend for my daughters and a friend they had for a sleepover. At first I was hesitant to make a Paleo version of pancakes, and thought about sticking with the old faithful mix that I had from the store. However, I decided against going to the grocery store and picking up pancake mix! I am sure glad that I did! This is an amazing mix. There was none left over, to the disappointment of my husband, and my daughters friend who generally does not eat all her pancakes, took two servings. She even told me that she generally did not liked blueberry pancakes before this batch! So, they were pretty amazing pancakes after all!

• 4 tbsp blueberry agave
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp sparkling mineral water
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup coconut flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 8 eggs
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup frozen blueberries

What makes this recipe so unique!

Mix Dry ingredients in a bowl, and all the wet ingredients in another bowl. Combine them both.

This recipe is so easy and good so make sure to double it, your guest are sure to ask for more!

Midwest soul food Fried Chicken

Lets talk FRIED CHICKEN, because I know that Keith ( My husbands co- worker) would!!!! It must be the Midwest Kansas girl in me, but I still love me some fried chicken, Okra, sweet potatoes, and blueberry pie! When my husband started eating no grains and wanted to incorporate the philosophy and eating style with our girls, I found it hard and difficult at times to find innovative ways to make food that they would enjoy and eat.

Lets face it, eating healthy is hard, and and no grain diet can be tricky at times. We all get the occasional craving for foods, which is what happened with me. I wanted Fried Chicken, and instead of making the drive out to ScreenDoor for some southern cuisine, we made best with what we had! And it turned out amazingly delicious too!

• 1/4 cayenne
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp granulated onion
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp poultry seasoning blend
• 2 eggs
• 4 Chicken Breast

Wash clean and pat dry chicken,  at this time you may slice if you are craving Chicken strips. Next, mix all dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix your eggs in a bowl, and coat chicken in the egg. Drip over the egg bowl for a second and then coat with the spice coating on both sides. 

For healthiest alternative cook in oven at 450, in a baking dish lined with foil and greased with olive oil.

OR, Fry that chicken, in a skillet. I used about 1/4  to 1/2 cup of olive oil. 

when done squeeze lemon on top.